Family history we know
begins in 1350, when a
SilvesterNati (=son of
Donato or Nato) was elected as a Priore in the govern of
Florence. He came from the art of "Cassettari" (making wood
furniture) and that gives a sense to the family coat of
arms: a nothched band (saw) and 2 stars.
- After Silvester, we had a
Filippo and a Donato who was member of the major art of
"Campsores" (money changer and bankers) and lived in Venice
for a while,
- and Donato's son Sebastiano
(Bastiano) who bought some properties in
Casentino valley.
- Bastianus' nephew Francesco
was a "free lance" knight who also worked as "Capitano" with
the famous Giovanni dalle Bande Nere (a member of the Medici
family). Francesco received from the Medici family (who
ruled Tuscany) the permission to join his coat of arms with
Medici's one.
- Then we had a long line of
lawyers and physicians. The first Pietro (Piero) Nati was a
physician, lived in Florence and married a girl of the
Capponi family. We still have a book of memories he wrote.
His tomb is in front of the main altar of
Ognissanti's
> church in
Florence. You can still go there and find his coat of arms
with Nati and Capponi symbols.
- But we must wait for his
grandson, who was Piero Nati the second, to start with the
Fattoria di Marena history:
Piero was born
in 1624, lived in Florence and managed the Botanical Garden
of the University of Pisa
(The
oldest Botanical Garden in the world founded by Cosimo dei
Medici in 1544). He was a school-friend of the scientist
Francesco Redi and there was some correspondence between
them.
During the year 1692 the
Fattoria di Marena was about to be sold by auction after the
Rondinelli family went bankrupt: on hearing about the
auction Piero Nati immediately hurried down to Rome to put
in their bid. He
restored the main
house and the farm and made Marena his country
residence.
Piero died in 1717, at the
age of 93, and was followed by:
- Francesco,who
was a pysician at the Medici's court and treated in
Livorno Carlo di Borbone, who was going about to become
the king of Naples (1737:
the Medici family died out and Lorena succeeded to the
Granducato of Tuscany),
- Francesco's brother
Domenico and his sons: Nato Andrea,
Pietro Gasparo (who was a physician
at the Neapolitan Court) Andrea Vitaliano: the little
Family
Chapelwas built
in 1730 to allow Andrea Vitaliano, who was a priest, to
celebrate the mass near the house.
- Pietro Gasparo's son
Lodovico, who married Johanna
Hombaurg (the
sister of Alessandro Hombaurg, a minister at the court of
Pietro Leopoldo di Lorena, in Florence). Johanna was the
first Nati, being a widow, who decided to live at Marena
all the year around.
- Lodovico and Johanna's
son, Cesare,
had a degree in
Law, but preferred country life and planting trees,: so
much so that he was nicknamed " San
Pinolo <"
(St. Pineseed). He was also the mayor of Bibbiena for a
long period: in 1861 he completed the building of the
village acqueduct. He also created the drainage system of
the plain near Marena, thereby reducing the river-bed of
the Archiano. Cesare had a brother, Pietro, who owned
other family estates and married a rich lady in Romagna,
so he was well known there as the "signore dai 100
poderi" (Lord of the 100 properties) Some of his
descendants still live in Romagna.
- Cesare's son was
Commendatore Alessandro, founder of
the "Pro Montibus et Silvis Aretina" (an association
devoted to developing the local woods) and promoter of
some other associations for the development of the
countryside,
- Alessandro's son
Nato who died
at the age of 42 of injiuries after a car accident,
- The two sons of Nato ed
Eleonora Marcucci Poltri: GiovanPiero and
Alessandro, who live in Marena
today with wife Anna Maria, sons and grandsons:
- Daughter Isabella with her husband Fabio Ferri and sons Chiara and Francesco Douglas
- Son Piero with his wife Valentina Balloni and sons Sebastiano and Arianna
The surname Nati became
Nati
Poltri
in 1750, when the
family inherited the title of COMMENDATORE dell'ORDINE di
S.STEFANO from an extinct branch of the Poltri
family.
FATTORIA di MARENA, your Tuscan Farm!
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